Training

Supersets, giant sets, stutter-reps, negatives, triple drops, up the rack, down the rack, and one hundred and one Weider principles. What does it all mean? What really works?

Getting down to the actual type of workout I recommend, I find it necessary to touch on my theory for sets and reps. Keeping on line with our heavy training program, you can probably guess that I recommend doing a lot of low rep sets. I consider low reps in the area of 4 to 8.If you do not stimulate the bulk of the fast twitch muscle fibers in the area you are working by rep 6, believe me you are not going to hit it. As far as the number of sets per body part, it varies according to the size of that group. Legs are going to need around 20 sets; shoulders will do fine with about 12 sets. I recommend that a good 3 to 5 minutes be taken between each set.The goal is to put out maximum explosive effort on each rep of each set; you can't do that if you are still breathing hard from the prior set, or if the muscle is still burning. Experienced and well trained lifters can get as much of a pump from a heavy set of 6 reps on a lift as others might get from pushing the weight 40 times. I don't think that high rep sets do anything to build or even harden muscles. I get an excellent leg pump from riding the stationary bike, but that pump does not have anything to do with muscle overload.

At the beginning of each workout there is a warm-up of a few sets. These are high-rep sets designed to get the blood flowing in the muscle, You will see, that on the exercises where I go up to quite heavy lifts, I do so gradually. Because we are training heavy, injury is certainly possible. By the time I get to the heaviest part of my bench workout for example, I have been lifting for about 25 minutes. This is very important to remember; do not rush into the heavy weights. It takes time to warm up the muscle and surrounding joints. ALWAYS WARM UP VERY THOROUGHLY BEFORE LIFTING HEAVY!I also wrap my wrists and elbows for heavy upper body lifts, and my knees for squats. Perfect form cannot be maintained for all heavy lifts, but an effort should be made. A little cheating can be a good thing; total disregard for form just to lift the weight can seriously injure you. Going heavy might mean lifting 500 Ibs. or 200 Ibs. for you personally, What ever the weight is, heavy is determined by your strength. Always push your strength, but remember it will take time to build it up. Forced reps are a good way to get used to weight that is out of your range. Doing a few forced reps on maximum lifts can help build strength.

ou are working by rep 6, believe me you are not going to hit it. As far as the number of sets per body part, it varies according to the size of that group. Legs are going to need around 20 sets; shoulders will do fine with about 12 sets. I recommend that a good 3 to 5 minutes be taken between each set.The goal is to put out maximum explosive effort on each rep of each set; you can't do that if you are still breathing hard from the prior set, or if the muscle is still burning. Experienced and well trained lifters can get as much of a pump from a heavy set of 6 reps on a lift as others might get from pushing the weight 40 times. I don't think that high rep sets do anything to build or even harden muscles. I get an excellent leg pump from riding the stationary bike, but that pump____________________________________